Why 3 fires at the grand prix

Question

has the teams tampered with the nozzles or is the fuel temp too high...never seen it before

Answer 1

Its a natural phenomena, their fuel is highly volatile, 1 single spark on metal to metal of their fuel rig nozzle will cause ignition. Plus high temperature of the location.

Answer 2

i think the problem was less with the fuelling rig than with the temp - it was 45degrees on the pit lane track (ground temp) and the car body was pretty hot, the fumes of the fuel when in contact with the hot metal body ignited causing the fires.  toyota sensed a problem and changed the rig.  i think the other teams also had time to re-think the strategy and could have tweaked some things like the temp of the fuel going in so that it would not ignite.  sebastian bourdais car in the second pitstop did not catch fire but as a precaution his team sprayed the extinguisher.  

hopefully it will not be an issue in other races

Answer 3

i have heard that it is becuase of the tempreature it has caused the fuel to expand.All the teams use the same type.

Answer 4

Probably cuz of tremprature!!

Really sad for Massa, but relieved to see Kimi atleast on the podium!! Kimi will do better for sure..

Answer 5

every body up there are d**n right .....the fuel used in f-1 cars is very volatile and highly inflamable......but they are only talking abt the exterior part of the story...the truth or the inside part is that ...the teams usually to save valuable seconds....donot wait till the fuel guzzler comletely stops exhaling the fuel,rather...they remove the nozzel a second before that....they may have been using this trick for last many races...but it back fired(literally) on them at hungary due to soaring tempratures!!!!!

Answer 6

The FIA don't seem to fussed about it - I can't see any reference to it on their site, or on Bernie's F1.com.

The logical answer would be that the high ambient temperatures (which weren't as high as previously in the season), affected the ability of the fuel rig to cut off the flow of fuel once the required amount of fuel was delivered.  This leaves a small amount of fuel between the nozzle and the car, which subsequently splashes out onto the vehicle, and then ignites when it comes into contact with the hot engine/exhaust.

Remember, F1 fuel isn't vastly different to normal road going fuel and I have seen a video of a chap who burned out his Ferrari road car by spilling fuel at the petrol station (I'll edit this if I find the link)...

Answer 7

they suspected it might have been the heat making the fuel expand and when what was left in the nozzle dribbled out it caught fire on the exhaust pipe. Bit strange it happened in 3 different garages though eh